


Long Day

by perrythedeer



Category: Anime Campaign! (Web Series), Epithet Erased (Cartoon), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, I love them so much u have no idea, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23079784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perrythedeer/pseuds/perrythedeer
Summary: Team Peasant Poppers stuff! I really love them,,
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Long Day

He'd ran, he left his brother behind and ran until he couldn't run anymore, quite _literally_ considering the fact there was blood coming out of him and leaving a trail, the knife dug into his chest still there, his hand gently gripping the hilt, he just had to breathe and keep running- nobody would find him.

Rick found himself in an alleyway, and slowly sunk to the ground. Right. Okay. He just had to call one of his friends, he reached for the phone in his pocket and took it out- oh. The screen was cracked. Wonderful, just his luck. He cursed softly to himself and leaned his head back with a quiet groan. 

He'd just wait, it couldn't be long until- until... well, he didn't know yet, but that was okay, deep shaky breaths, come on...

Rick woke up in a dark room, his jacket was gone and his chest was wrapped in bandages, he blinked blearily, everything still hurt- who had grabbed him? What had happened?

"..Hello?" he called after a second, and he heard a crash from another room, before a girl was running in, she had long black hair that was tied up in a ponytail, bright red eyes that shone in the darkness. "Lord, i didn't expect you to wake up so fast- do you have any idea how idiotic it is to walk around with a knife in your chest? People are gonna think i stabbed you! Twice! Because- well, Shnarbnerb- he's like that."

That explained the *other* aching pain in his chest, he'd been stabbed twice and this girl had both tried to attack him _and_ saved him, wonderful.

"...Yeah, okay. Sorry for the trouble" the girl shrugged and went over to examine the bandages, she'd stitched the wounds up pretty good- and her honchkrow was off grabbing some more disinfectant and bandages from a hospital- stealing for the great good, so...

"It's whatever! You seemed stressed, crying in your sleep, and hurt of course- I don't like seeing cute people in pain" and she gave a joking wink, making Rick sputter and glare at her "Excuse me-" "tsk tsk, don't deny your savior!" she ruffled his hair.

Rick had a strong feeling he wasn't going to like this girl very much.

\--

Travelling with Nera turned out to be cool- once he was healed up, she was a super sweet girl, if a bit dark with her humor, and her weird bird kept stealing his wallet. He was happier than he'd been in a while, the bright smile on his face was back and nearly permanent, that had been Neras goal

She liked seeing people smile, and Rick didn't look good with a frown, so she did her best to keep him in that good mood, running around- tackling and tickling him- jokes- anything, but every time they passed by some... some _place_ in Sweet Jazz, the park, the school, a certain neighborhood-

_The Beach-_

He seemed upset... Nera had a small idea, and she was currently working on it, dragging him forcibly to the docks. Rick was laughing and swatting at her hand lightly "Nera you can't just bring me places you doofus-" "I can and I will!~" she looked back at him and blew a raspberry, only making him laugh louder.

"if you bring me anywhere i dont wanna go you _know_ ill trap you and destroy you!" Rick teased right back, letting his eyes playfully flash black, and Nera gasped, using her telepathy as quickly as she could manage _'Aw, as if your little powers could mess with me'_

An offended gasp, and Rick shoved her ahead of him, breaking their hold on eachother and causing her to burst into laughter so loud Rick could've sworn the whole world would hear it.

There was a blonde girl staring at them, she was contemplating, this was the best example of the _other half_ \- the _poor_ people of the world.. Right, okay! She walked up to them, and announced her presence by clearing her throat. "I- I am Phoenica Fleecity the Fourteenth! I-"

She coughed and smiled brightly at them, Rick and Nera had stopped in confusion, and practically glued themselves next to eachother, interlocking hands in a protective way. Phoenica just blinked "I, need _escorts_ across the Utopus region! See- my family is, is destined to and _repeatedly_ saves the world- and that region is my calling!"

Rick blinked, and looked at Nera curiously. Phoenica could've sworn they were communicating in their minds, but Rick looked back at her with a smile

"Of course! i'm always glad to make new friends" and he held out his hand.

Phoenica ignored it, just smiling brightly "Wonderful, let's go then!" and she turns away.

This was gonna be a long day.

\--

Being on the ship was weird, it was a two day trip, and Nera had disappeared a while ago, leaving Rick watching the waves pass by with a wide eyed expression. He'd always been drawn to the ocean- and of course he knew why, he was ocean race, part of him wanted to dive into it.

But he didn't- his lungs still felt weird, his breaths all shook, it'd be dangerous, and besides- this wasn't a movie, leaping into the ocean wasn't romantic or a good idea, it'd be messy- and Phoenica would probably yell at him. Speaking of the new girl, she was standing next to him, her icey blue eyes reflecting the color of the waves.

"...Why do you need escorts?" Rick asked after a minute, and she looked at him curiously "I'm rich, peasant, i _always_ need escorts." Rick snorted, and rolled his eyes with a smile "You could just say you wanted friends, and me and Nera looked cool."

"unrealistic. Higher beings don't need friends." Phoenica looked back at the ocean, but Rick wouldn't give up that easily, higher beings? That, was a new one, but he just laughed lightly and gently nudged her arm "Tell me about yourself, come on- I think Nera's recruiting a new boy downstairs, she did research and we need four teammates so.."

Phoenica cracked a tiny smile, it was nice to know they'd done researcher ahead of time- smart of them. Atleast she hadn't collected the two dumbest people from the other half. "I'm Phoenica Flecity the fourteenth, my family is destined to save the world over and over again- sometimes from the seamstress, sometimes from other things." 

He tilted his head "That's not about you, what do you like to do?" "I like to stay at my home and count my money and wait- I must stay indoors to stay safe while waiting to reach the age I get my chance-" Rick snorted, and Phoenica shot a glare, causing him to raise his hands lightly

"I'm just sayin, it sounds like you're reciting a script. What do you do for fun?" "Count my-" "Yea that's total bull" Rick flicked her arm lightly, and Phoenica frowned "Well- well what do you do?!"

Ricks eyes lit up, oh _heck_ yeah. He grabbed Phoenicas arm and pulled her over to what was essentially a dancefloor- this place had *nice* stuff- and turned on music "Can you dance?!" he called, and Phoenica blinked.

The music was... loud, fast, and she blinked, right, it was hip-hop, of course she could do that. Ricks jaw dropped when the girl almost _immediately_ started breakdancing, an amused smile on her face all the while... and then he was cheering as loud as he could, taking out his phone and taking a video of it.

"GO PHOENICA!!" he shouted, hearing a laugh from her- and the music eventually cut out, leaving the girl sweaty and with her hair mussed up and all over her face, she was panting slightly, and smiling brightly up at Rick.

"...That, was a lot more fun when it's not against my family" she spoke finally, and Rick grabbed her hand to help her up. She held onto it tightly. "Can you show me other things I can do to have fun, friend Rick? I'd _love_ to see more of how the other half lives."

Ricks eyes flashed black for a split second at the word, and his smile grew. "Of course!"

\--

Samson turned out to be a sweetheart, and the three of them had patched up his bullet wounds temporarily by ripping a map of Utopus into four pieces. He'd happily joined their team and was almost silent most of the time, his natural friendly energy being enough for all of them to get along with him.

Rick found it cool, and was currently enjoying the naturally happy energy that seemed to radiate off of Samson, watching him play a video game while the girls slept soundly.

"So you've been stabbed, i've been shot. Lets get the girls blinded and gagged to finish the circle" Samson spoke after a minute, and Rick blinked, snickering and shaking his head, yeah the dark humor was, _odd_ , but he didn't mind it.

"I think Phoenica would prefer the blinding, Nera would probably bite through the gag though." Samson gave a hum at Ricks response, and glanced back at him. "What do you think is gonna be at Utopus?" Rick shrugged lightly, scooting closer to Samson and taking one of the controllers.

Samsons deadpan voice got to Rick a little, everything he said sounded somewhat... weird, creepy? Rick didn't know the word, but he appreciated his new friend despite it, not everyone can control their tone afterall!

"I dunno, Nera kinda just dragged me out here" Samson chuckled a little, giving a soft smile in Ricks direction "Girls, amirite? How long have you been with her?" Rick didn't even question it, just shrugging and trying to think about it "uhh, I've been living with her foorr... half a year now I think? Ran away from home"

"rough." Samson lightly pat Ricks hand, before focusing back on the game. "Be careful, she seems feisty." "yeah... she is" Rick leaned forward a bit, smiling softly, he didn't mind it, Nera was a nice change of pace from his old home.

This was a nice change of pace, he realized that later in the night, when Phoenica had woken up and come over to hug him, claiming she'd had a nightmare. She'd fallen asleep leaning on him- Samson eventually fell onto him as well, and when Rick went to sleep, he'd reached to grab onto Neras hand.

He could learn to live this happily, most definitely.

Time had passed, almost four years now, Rick was seventeen- almost eighteen- and had- honestly kind of forgotten about his old life, he had a lovely umbreon partner and a togekiss that was _amazing_ at using metronome, and so many other pokemon _friends_ and- Team Peasant Poppers was always on his side, so were team fresh floof, if they were needed.

He'd grown a schedule, leaning down from his bunk to scare Phoenica awake by poking her with one of his dark magic tendrils, she'd slap it away and yell at him until he came off the bed and his stomach hurt with how hard he was laughing- this would wake up Nera and Samson.

The former would watch fondly, while Samson threw a jacket at Rick and left the room to go feed the pokemon. The pokemon would get fed, and Rick would call Lavi for a check-up, Team Fresh Floof was always doing fine, working against team vision. Phoenica would throw a malasada at him- he'd learnt to catch it by now.

The four of them would eat together and share their dreams- Phoenicas were always funny, and Rick always had to lean over and kiss her cheek to get her to stop giggling because she was always the last to stop laughing.

Than they'd go out and train and fight the enemies of the Utopus region- being honorary elite four members left them filling in for the actual ones quite often, they were formidable foes afterall- considering you could never expect what they'd pull out- Rick would even use Air Bud the Azelf sometimes if he thought a battle was going wrong- that always shocked his opponents.

They'd do a mini adventure in the evening, which was what they were doing now, all riding on their respective flying types and teasing eachother, Nera was calling Rick out for sleeptalking again, and Samson and Phoenica were laughing far too hard for their own good. 

It was calm, nice, despite the storm brewing in the sky. Phoenica yelled out an attack and her Gyrados shot a water-pulse at the three of them, drenching them and officially starting a fight. Neras honchkrow shot a darkpulse, and Samsons scyther used x-scizor. It was fun to watch from afar, Rick almost never participated- he was kind of scared of getting hurt.

Nobody wanted to interupt his laughing either, they all agreed that Rick was the best when he was happy, they loved him either way, but it was good to see him smiling- occasionally, like today, he'd join in because an attack got too close.

"METRONOME!!" he shouted excitedly, and his togekiss seemed to think for a minute, before spinning around in the air- faster and faster- Rick had to hold on tighter- but the _dragon rage_ was too strong.

He got shot off and was falling, and his friends didn't seem to notice, Nera was still laughing and using the espurrs in her hair to create shields around the three of them. The panic was kicking in, and he cried out for them-

He hit the ocean with a deafening splash before he could say anything.


End file.
